"The Ash-tree" is a short ghost story by the British author M.R. James. It was first published in 1904 as part of the anthology Ghost Stories of an Antiquary.
The story takes place in the late 17th century and the mid 18th century. Its main characters are a powerful landowner named Sir Matthew Fell and his grandson Sir Richard Fell. In the year 1690, a woman known as Mrs. Mothersole is found guilty of being a witch and condemned to death, largely on the strength of testimony given by Sir Matthew Fell. Shortly afterwards, Sir Matthew dies in mysterious and horrific circumstances. Some fifty years later, Sir Richard inherits his grandfather's former home. He finds that an ash tree in the grounds of the house is causing him problems.
"The Ash-tree" has been adapted to other media, most notably as the fifth TV movie in the BBC series A Ghost Story for Christmas.
Plot
Adaptations
"The Ash-tree" was adapted as the fifth TV movie in the BBC series A Ghost Story for Christmas[1] The film was first shown on British television on December 23, 1975. It stars Edward Petherbridge as both the first Sir Matthew and Sir Richard and Barbara Ewing as Anne Mothersole (as the character is called in the adaptation). In the film, Sir Richard is not the grandson of the first Sir Matthew. Sir Richard inherits Castringham Hall from his uncle, the second Sir Matthew, who had inherited it from his uncle, the first Sir Matthew. On the day of her execution, Anne Mothersole curses the first Sir Matthew so that he will have no direct descendants. Instead of saying, "There will be guests at the hall", she says, "Mine shall inherit", referring to her spider-like children. The film opens with the arrival of Sir Richard at Castringham Hall. Soon after his arrival, he begins to experience visions of life in the first Sir Matthew's time. The last of those visions is one of the execution of Anne Mothersole.
Abridged versions of "The Ash-tree" have been read on British television by Robert Powell (in the second episode of Classic Ghost Stories,[2] first shown on BBC 2 on December 26, 1986) and Christopher Lee (in the second episode of Christopher Lee's Ghost Stories for Christmas,[3] first shown on BBC 2 on December 26, 2000).
Footnotes
- ↑ The BBC series A Ghost Story for Christmas is made up of twelve TV movies that were first shown on British television between 1971 and 2013. Of the other eleven films in the series, two are original stories, the rest are adaptations of the short stories "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral', "A Warning to the Curious", "Lost Hearts", "The Treasure of Abbot Thomas", "A View from a Hill", "Number 13", "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You My Lad" and "The Tractate Middoth" by M.R. James and the short story "The Signalman" by Charles Dickens.
- ↑ In the five part BBC TV mini-series Classic Ghost Stories from December 1986, actor Robert Powell reads a different short story by M.R. James in each episode. The other stories read in the series are "The Mezzotint", "Wailing Well", "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You My Lad" and "The Rose Garden".
- ↑ In the four-part BBC TV mini-series Christopher Lee's Ghost Stories for Christmas, first shown on British television in December 2000, Christopher Lee plays M.R. James, telling his ghost stories by candlelight to friends and students at King's College, Cambridge on Christmas Eve. The other stories told in the series are "The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral", "Number 13' and "A Warning to the Curious"